Handmade cards from Rwanda

We are delighted to announce a new trading partnership with a card-making business in Rwanda. Located on the outskirts of Kigali, Cards from Africa (CfA) employs young people who have been orphaned to make handmade greeting cards. An estimated 8 percent of Rwanda’s total population is orphaned as a result of the 1994 genocide and the persistance of disease epidemics. Because they haven’t been able to finish school, many of these young people have little or no work prospects, often living on the streets.

All the cardmakers at CfA have lost both parents and support at least one younger sibling. Here, they are able to make 4 to 6 times what they could otherwise make, and with this salary they can provide food, shelter, health care, and education for their siblings. Through these jobs, Cards from Africa hopes to break the cycle of poverty for these young people.

The cards are environmentally sustainable because the paper is handmade without chemicals from local office waste and discarded scraps that would otherwise be destined to burn. The cardmakers use natural products, such as flower petals and pine needles to create various textures.

Cards from Africa are members of the World Fair Trade Organisation (WFTO) and are deeply committed to fair-trade principles. Their minimum hiring age is 18 and they pay above-market wages in the local context, thus encouraging the young employees to save and to hopefully set up businesses for themselves one day.